Hidden Enemies (Book 9 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  “I can probably arrange another tour later, but going now would be perfect,” he said with a slight shrug over the com link. “I got delayed on the station, so I’m heading for the Fleet bay in about half an hour. Maybe you could gather a couple of people and I’ll give you the grand tour. I can try to arrange a second trip in a day or so. How does that sound?”

  “Let me ask,” she said and then put him on hold.

  She sent an implant message to Princess Kelsey about the situation and received an immediate response.

  Tell him we’ll go. I’ll grab Carl and it’ll just be the three of us.

  That sounded exceptionally dangerous to Veronica, but it seemed they didn’t have much choice. So, she told Don they’d meet him at the Fleet bay in half an hour.

  After she disconnected the call, she went in search of Princess Kelsey. She found the woman already discussing the situation with the scientist.

  “I’m not sure what equipment I can sneak through the Fleet bay,” Carl was saying. “How thoroughly are they going to scan us?”

  Veronica shrugged when Princess Kelsey looked at her. “We’re under escort, so it could be no scan at all or they might decide to examine us more closely. Two of us have Fleet IDs, so it might be better if one of us carries any unusual equipment. We’re less likely to be searched.”

  “What kind of equipment do you think we should take?” Kelsey asked the scientist.

  “There are a few pieces of specialized equipment that I can use to directly access the hardwired network inside the shipyard. None of them are very large. I could probably fit everything inside a small pouch. Something that would be concealable underneath normal clothes.”

  Veronica considered that and nodded slowly. “It might be best if I carry the pouch. Don has known me for years. If it comes down to being searched, I’m going to be the last person they look at. He’ll vouch for me.”

  Knowing that was true made her feel guilty. Don was a decent guy and she felt bad about the likely outcome of her using him like this.

  Princess Kelsey put her hand on Veronica’s shoulder. “You like him and you feel bad?”

  She gave the short woman a lopsided smile. “Zia said that your insight goes beyond what one would normally expect, but you continue to surprise me. Yes, I feel bad, but that won’t stop me from doing my duty.”

  Kelsey squeezed her shoulder for a moment and then released it. “Duty can be a hard mistress. I’ve learned that lesson again and again over the last few years. Our plans are still fluid. There’s going to be a lot of chaos when we leave. If we can, I’ll try to work things so we take him with us.”

  “I’m not sure he’ll thank either of us for that,” Veronica said with a dark chuckle. “Still, with a choice between leaving him to the justice of the System Lords or kidnapping him, I appreciate the effort. Thank you.”

  “It’s not a problem. With everything we’ve got in the air, what’s one more ball?”

  While they’d been talking, Carl had been going through his equipment. He came back over and handed Veronica a small pouch. One that would easily be concealable inside her clothing. So long as she wasn’t searched, no one would ever know she was carrying it.

  “Most of the hardware is shielded, so they’re going to have to be looking exceptionally closely to spot this,” he said.

  Veronica tucked the pouch away. “Then let’s hope they don’t look. Shall we go? It wouldn’t hurt to be just a little bit early.”

  She had no idea where the Fleet bay was, so she used her implants to consult with the basic station network and get an overview map. She’d been on a number of similar stations over the years and was quickly able to orient herself and lead them to the lifts that would take them to their destination.

  Unlike the cargo bay they’d arrived in, the Fleet bay was segregated from the general areas of the station. The large hatches were closed and a number of marines stood guard in front of them.

  She knew that marines in the Rebel Empire were different than the ones used by the New Terran Empire. None of these men had implants and their weapons had to be activated by an officer before each shift. The Empire didn’t trust them very far.

  Also unlike the marines in the New Terran Empire, these men would be more thuggish. Marines were brutes used to assault positions without regard to their own survival, so they tended to view life through the lens of what they could get away with before they died an inevitable and probably gory death.

  A large man with a shaved head and what looked like a semi-permanent sneer on his face stepped forward and raised his hand. His sleeve had corporal’s stripes and his name tag read Deacon.

  “Fleet admittance only.”

  “We’re expected. My name is Veronica Giguere and this is Diane Delatorre and Carl Owlet. Commander Don Sommerville should have us on the list.”

  The man didn’t bother looking at the clipboard one of his associates held. “You’re not on the list. Come back once you are.”

  Veronica frowned slightly and restrained herself from snapping at him like she would have if she were in uniform. She was pretending not to be a Fleet officer, so she couldn’t tear a strip off of him.

  “Perhaps you should check the list again,” she said firmly. “When the commander gets here, you’re not going to like what happens if you continue detaining us.”

  The corporal grinned. “You want to see detention? We can do that, too. Privates, take these three into custody for attempting to gain unauthorized access to a Fleet facility. I’ll handle the pat downs myself.”

  That last was said with a leer toward Veronica.

  The other marines smiled and stepped forward, obviously relishing the thought of manhandling two women and a skinny guy.

  Oh, hell.

  25

  Somewhat disconcerted, Zia put on her best smile for the new woman. Her estimation of their chances at getting information plummeted from about fifty percent to around zero, but she was going to try anyway.

  “Hi, we have something of an odd question. My sister’s little girl had a terrible accident last year that damaged her spine. The doctors told us that they couldn’t regenerate it. It’s really hard, but we’re trying to keep our hopes up. Is the center working on anything that might help her?”

  The woman’s scowl deepened. “It’s against our policy to discuss research projects. The technology being evaluated and developed here is at the very edge of what’s possible with Imperial technology.

  “Even so, not all projects are successful. We don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up that a certain technology will be released for general use in the near future, or even in the distant future. I hope that it becomes possible for your niece to recover, but I’m not going to be able to answer your question.”

  Talbot leaned forward, his eyes pleading. “We don’t want to know any secret details. We just want to give my sister-in-law something to hold onto. Please. Even a hint that it might be possible would give her the strength to carry on for Rachel.”

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said, her expression becoming fierce. “I’m doubly sorry that a little girl was injured, but that doesn’t change the situation. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Zia considered pushing one final time, but since the woman had balked at Talbot’s plea, she wasn’t going to give in to anything Zia said.

  “It breaks my heart to see a corporation that won’t even say one word to give hope to those they claim they want to help,” Zia said with anger that wasn’t all that feigned. “We’ll go, but you’ve made our pain worse. Remember that.”

  She took Talbot’s arm and led him back toward the door, her back stiff with actual outrage. Part of her hoped the woman would call out and give them a clue, but she didn’t. They exited the building no wiser than when they’d gone inside.

  As they were walking away, Talbot grimaced at her. “Well, that was a bust. Not only was access to the building restricted enough that we got no information about what the layout is,
the old battleax wouldn’t even clue us in about any regeneration technology.

  “You did good, by the way. If it’d been me, I’d have told you what you wanted to know and damn company policy. We’ll just have to let Carl and the other nerds see what they can find out remotely.”

  She gave the marine officer a smile. “Don’t sell yourself short. That last-minute plea of yours was genius. I figured she’d crack for sure.”

  Zia was about to add more when she saw someone walk around the corner ahead of them. It was the young man who’d been behind the receptionist’s desk when they’d arrived.

  He came directly to them and smiled a bit sadly. “I’d like to take a moment to apologize for my associate. Regina is somewhat of a stickler for rules. In any case, the company doesn’t inform us about the various projects that are underway or their status. I’m sorry about that.”

  Seeing a second chance being dangled in front of her, Zia tried to pluck it. “I really do understand that confidential information needs to stay inside the company. You wouldn’t want your competitors to get details on experiments and hardware and that kind of stuff.

  “I’m not looking for any of that. All I want to do is tell my sister that her little girl might one day walk again. Might one day be able to feed herself again. I’m just looking for hope.”

  The young man glanced up the corridor and back down again before leaning close to her. “While no one has said anything to me directly about the matter, I’ve heard a couple of our senior researchers discussing a project that might lead to something like that.

  “It sounds as if it’s already in the testing stages, so if it passes the rigorous standards set for general release by the Empire, it might be available for your niece in a year or two. You didn’t hear that from me.”

  Zia smiled widely. “Thank you. Thank you. You don’t know what a difference you’ve just made in our lives.”

  She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly for a moment before releasing him.

  He coughed for a second and smiled at her as he stepped back. “I really hope your niece gets better. Good luck.”

  With that, the young man turned and walked briskly back the way he’d come. He turned the corner into a side corridor that probably led to another entrance to the facility.

  Talbot hurried after the young man and peered around the corner. Zia joined him just in time to see the young man step into a side entrance. A discreet one with no identifying signs.

  “Well, that’s helpful,” Talbot said as he led to Zia away from the area. “Unless he was just selling us sunshine, that means there’s something in there that could potentially regenerate a damaged spine.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him as they mingled with the crowd. “You think he was lying?”

  The marine shrugged. “It’s possible. In his shoes, if someone came looking for something to hope for, it might be tempting to give them a comforting lie. It won’t change the situation for that person, but it might make the near future more bearable. I’d consider doing it. Wouldn’t you?”

  Probably, now that she thought about it. That was the risk in putting forward a tear-jerking story.

  “On the plus side,” Talbot continued, “we now know of a less obvious entrance to the premises. Better yet, we know someone whose ID card opens it.”

  Now she gave him a skeptical look. “We know that he can get in, but we don’t know who he is or how to get a hold of his card. How do you propose we rectify that?”

  He grinned at her. “Now that we know what he looks like, it shouldn’t be that hard to put someone in the area to keep an eye out for him and follow him home. Once we know where he lives, I’d wager breaking into his domicile is going to be a lot easier that an assault on a research facility.”

  “That’s not going to be the only security measures they have,” Zia warned him. “That’s just the first layer. A receptionist won’t have access to the classified labs. Even the researchers that can get into the experimental area might not be able to access the specific project area we’re looking for.

  “In addition, we won’t know where to look either. Even if we put that guy to the question, he won’t be able to tell us what we need to know, I’d wager. And we don’t dare make him disappear. That would raise all kinds of red flags.

  “What we need to do is get access to his card and clone it. Then we leave the original with him and no one will be the wiser. We’ve got to be subtle.”

  Talbot looked mildly offended. “I can be subtle.”

  Zia laughed a little and took his arm. “Only when compared to your wife. Trust me when I say that this operation is going to require a deft hand to pull it off without sounding alarms everywhere across the station.”

  In spite of their success, she was still worried about how they’d be able to carry out the penetration of the research facility. Getting in was just the first step in a long series of things that had to go right for them to succeed and survive.

  That wasn’t even counting the mission to the shipyard, which was their primary goal. If the attempt to steal regeneration technology failed, that would be unfortunate for Commodore Murdoch, but they’d have tried.

  She was far more concerned about what could go wrong stealing a flip drive or manufacturing replacement parts. And the looming war between the Clans in the Rebel Empire. If, of course, that was really what was happening.

  Well, if this kind of thing were easy, anyone could do it. They’d make it work. Somehow.

  Kelsey stepped forward, an angry look on her face. The look was mostly manufactured, though part of her was pissed that this idiot was putting them in such danger.

  “My name is Diane Delatorre. Captain Delatorre to you. Stand down or I will break you.”

  Following up on her words, Kelsey pulled her fake ID card out and shoved it into the man’s face.

  The marines that had been about to seize them stepped back a few paces. Based on the looks they were giving her, this was an extremely unwelcome revelation.

  The corporal stared at the badge as if it were a snake that were about to bite him. Then he took a step back, too.

  “My apologies, Captain,” he mumbled.

  Kelsey took two steps forward, not allowing the man to increase the space between them.

  “That’s not good enough, Corporal. What makes you think that Commander Sommerville is going to tolerate your insolence to his guests? Is it your habit to offend officers in general or merely him in specific?”

  The man raised his hands as if surrendering. “I meant nothing by this, Captain. I was only doing my duty.”

  Kelsey laughed, adding a harsh edge to her tone. “If you’re going to be an ass, you’re going to have to either learn how to lie better or accept the punishment for being a prick.”

  She jabbed a finger into the man’s chest, putting enough force into it to be sure it hurt. “You can rest assured that if Commander Sommerville doesn’t put you on report, I will. I’m not the kind of woman you want to cross. I leave my enemies wishing they’d never been born.

  “You’re hardly worth my attention so I’ll let it go at that. If you trouble me again, I’m going to make you my personal project. I’ll be here on this station for another week. That would certainly make my time here more enjoyable.”

  The man recoiled from her, obviously cowed. “I’m sorry, Captain,” he whimpered. “What can I do to make up for my wrongdoing?”

  The smile that Kelsey felt creeping onto her face repulsed her, but it was in character for the person she was pretending to be. “Nothing. Now open the hatch and let us pass before I decide it would be more entertaining to start on you now.”

  The corporal raced to the controls and opened the main hatch. He saluted her rigidly as she strode past him and into the Fleet bay.

  Kelsey didn’t look behind her, but she knew her companions were following her. Right now she was trying to stop her hands from trembling.

  “Remind me never to play poker with you,” V
eronica said softly. “You scared the hell out of me and I know that wasn’t you.”

  “I can second the thing about not playing poker against her,” Carl said, with the wry smile. “I’ve heard stories. The marines were complaining at the start of the original mission how she cleaned them out. That was years ago, back before everything happened. I’d imagine she’s only gotten better.”

  Kelsey let her breath out and slowed her pace. “I’ve certainly gotten better at bluffing. What scares me is how easily I stepped into that role. It was almost like being on autopilot. Flip the bitch switch and off I go. Terrifying when you get right down to it.”

  “One of the things I’ve discovered in life is that it’s easier for a civilized person to be a barbarian than for a barbarian to be civilized,” Veronica said. “It’s far, far easier to step down to someone else’s level than for them rise to yours.

  “In this case, that was the absolute right thing to do. When he thought we were civilians and that you were a pushover, he was going to take every advantage he could. Right up to and including sexual assault if he could’ve gotten away with it. That’s how marines are here.”

  Kelsey sighed. “That would break Talbot’s heart. Hell, it breaks my heart. Where are we supposed to go?”

  Before Veronica could answer, Kelsey saw Commander Sommerville stepping out of a cutter and waving toward their group.

  “Here we go,” Kelsey said. “We need to see the manufacturing equipment and give Carl time to do his work, Veronica. Try to angle for something like that and we’ll keep Sommerville distracted while Carl works his magic.”

  The young scientist took a deep breath and nodded. “If we can find a network junction, it should only take me thirty seconds to install the splice. I brought four, just in case. One will do, but more is better.

  “Best of all would be the opportunity to install a splice directly inside the manufacturing equipment. I could read its software and determine if what we’re looking for is even here. That would make our lives a lot easier.”